


Road Trip

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen, The House on the Rock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-07 15:33:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17368589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "It’s clear from the movie that Tooth, North and Bunny haven’t been out in the ‘real world’ for awhile; they haven’t actually interacted with kids in centuries, or know how the modern world portrays them. Heck, how much of the world do they really see from their sleighs and rabbit holes, besides the obvious (cars, things in kids rooms)?They know they need to get in touch with people again, and Jack is willing to be their guide. Sandy can either be as behind the times as the others, or helping Jack to get them re-acquainted.Bonuses:- Tooth’s reaction to dental grills.- North insists on trying every product that uses him in their advertising. (This is mostly an excuse to see North on a Coca-Cola induced sugar rush.)- Book!Bunnymund isn’t just a master of Tai Chi, but the creator of many of the martial arts. Jack shows him that he has more than Easter as a legacy."Agh sorry no bonuses in this one. The Guardians are on a road trip and make one last stop at the house that Alex Jordan built. (It’s not as exciting as it could be, sorry–though maybe I will try to develop that in the future.)





	Road Trip

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr 6/17/2013.

To say that it’s been a strange road trip would be like saying the Pacific ocean was a bit damp. For one thing, they weren’t even travelling in a car. That is, the dreamsand looked like a car, but sometimes Sandy got bored and turned it into a plane for a little bit without warning Jack or anybody else. He always changed it back shortly, though, since he agreed with Jack that the other Guardians weren’t going to learn anything about the modern world unless they could see it from ground level.  
  
They had been driving here and there for a few weeks now, stopping whenever something caught someone’s eye—either because it was interesting or it needed an explanation. Still, Jack knew they had barely scratched the surface of what there was to see.  
  
Now, though, it was late November, and North was starting to lobby for the road trip to be put on hold till mid-January—“Unless you will be too busy then, Jack. Then we hold off till after Easter.”  
  
“Okay, okay.” Jack hated when he had to concede the importance of work, but he knew this was an argument he would never win with North. “But maybe just one more stop?” If Sandy had continued along the route Jack thought he had, there was something nearby that they had to see.  
  
“Just one more. We are really getting down to the wire. Has been fun, but is less fun when I am worrying about being needed at the Workshop.”  
  
“I know, I know,” Jack said. He turned to Sandy. “So where are we now?”  
  
A dreamsand Wisconsin appeared over Sandy’s head, with a blinking star in the southwest portion of the state. “So does that mean we’re close to…?” Sandy nodded, smiling. It was one of his favorite places, after all.  
  
As they approached, driving down the winding rural highway, North suddenly sat straight up, as if he had gotten an electric shock. “There is nexus of wonder here? But I did not know about it at all! Jack, I am sorry, but I must go and investigate that instead of wherever you and Sandy are taking us.”  
  
“How do you know that’s not where we’re headed?” Jack asked as Sandy turned down a smaller road.  
  
“Is very unlikely. I will try to explain why—is little bit technical but—” North’s explanation is cut short as they pass a large, fanciful planter with sculpted dragons crawling over it. He tilts his head as if listening for something. “But then again very unlikely does not mean impossible.”  
  
It’s a good finale for their trip, Jack thinks, as he watches his friends make their way through the very strange house—though he has to duck in a great many places, North seems infinitely charmed by the six thousand highly varied representations of himself lining the walls and tables, Bunny mentions how he’d like to see the garden in springtime and how you’d think he’d have noticed something like that carousel starting on Easter weekend, and Tooth is nearly beside herself with all the strange and wonderful nostalgic collections.  
  
More than a few children see them, of course, but they don’t cause much of a fuss. Here, the Guardians are no more incongruous than many of other things juxtaposed in their surroundings.  
  
When the others finally, reluctantly, leave, not bothering with the conceit of the dreamsand car anymore, Jack sits with Sandy on the narrow tip of the Infinity room, high above the pine forest.  
  
“You said you visited this place often,” Jack says. “Any particular reason, apart from what it is? After all, you have Dreamland.”  
  
Sandy gives Jack a small smile. May be a wonder nexus, he signs, but also neutral ground.  
  
“Neutral ground? But why…?”  
  
He shrugs. Always good to have neutral ground.  
  
Jack’s face is puzzled. “Wait—does this have anything to do with the advertisements I saw on the map for Halloween events?”  
  
In a matter of speaking. After all, you said it yourself. There’s something here for everyone.


End file.
